While back...

While we were back, we were treated to one of those winters that you remember from when you were a kid yes, the ones with snow(at least for a little while)..... Living in Shanghai, we don't get the "full" experience of winter and the all the fun that goes with it. The picture above was taken off my sister's deck in Fargo, ND. The view is through their yard to the Red River and it looks over into MN. The view that morning was beautiful with the nice frosty trees...

Even in Fond du Lac, we received snow. Caden & Ava had their first opportunity to play in it. With their new snow suits that Grandma bought them they reminded me of the Christmas Story..."I've fallen and can't get up."

Until next time... think snow.

Back In The Swing...

Actually I'm back in Shanghai. Sabrina & the kids are still in the States. Just to prove it I'm adding a picture from my office in downtown Puxi (downtown area of Shanghai). You can barely see the Pearl Tower, a Shanghai icon, in the far right of the picture. Today is quite overcast so the view is a bit hazey. This is typical for January as it is a cold wet month...just above freezing and drizzle about every day. I'll take a clear -20 degree day in the midwest in a second compared to this.

I'll head back next week for our annual supplier conference and to bring the family back with me.

I arrived on Saturday night and got a call from a few friends / past co-workers. Jim lives in Shanghai now and Shawn was on business travels. I worked with them at Mercury Marine about 8 years ago. They are both "Wisconsites" and said that they were meeting at Big Bamboo to watch the Packer game (snow bowl). Big's is about the best place to watch a sporting event I am told. So at 6 AM Sunday morning I showered up and caught a taxi and had breakfast while watching the Packers play in a snow storm in Greenbay. All of this from a pub in Shanghai...

Now that we are back in the swing of things - count on blogs on a more routine basis. I apologize to the blog "addicts" out there. Yes, you voiced your opinion over the holidays and I'll be more deligent.

Cheers & a Happy Belated New Year!!

We'll Be Home For Christmas...

First of all - sorry for being delingquent in our blogging...

Sabrina had Christmas music playing the other day and the song"I'll Be Home For Christmas" came on. I listened to this song with a new meaning this time around as we'll be home for Christmas very soon. We leave for the US of A this Wednesday December 12th.

Last evening (Saturday) our housing complex - Bellewood Villas - put on a Christmas party. It was a good time. There are a lot of really nice families in this housing complex and just about all of them have kids - of all ages. Santa paid a visit. All the kids gathered around Santa as he opened his bag and the first present he pulled out was for Caden. This is Caden and Ava's first experience with Santa and Caden was not about to go up and get his present from Santa. Ava was next and was a little more open to receiving her gift. In addition to this there was a ham dinner, various other "fixin's", and deserts. The party was put on so early because most of the residents here in Bellewood will be heading home for an extended time for the holidays.

Anyway, we'll be home soon and hope to see you all while we are back.

Until next time - "Anyone who thinks a husband and wife are created equal, has never seen a husband wrap a gift." :)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife, Sabrina - Dec 6th:

Halloween in Shanghai

Today is Halloween in Shanghai and in our little housing development of Bellewood. This is Caden and Ava's first "real" Halloween. Caden is dressed as a giraffe and Ava is a toucan.

The Bellewood staff threw a small Halloween party for all of the kids and some adults. Somehow I don't think Caden and Ava really enjoyed the party as they were very "spooked" by all the people dressed in costumes as you can see by Caden's expression...

After the party the typical "Trick or Treat" started and we swear kids were coming out of the wood work because we ran out of candy just like we did back in our wonderful neighborhood of Copper Creek our first year. Oh well, we know better now...

Until next time...trick or treat!

Pawlenty - Dodgeball ??

Sabrina, I, and a few other ex-pat friends from Minnesota attended a reception for the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty in downtown Shanghai this past Friday evening. This was a small reception with about 50 people or so. The Governor and his entourage were on a trade mission to China & India. The reception was held on the roof terrace of a restaurant called -"Element Fresh". The evening was a bit cool but all in all it was a nice event with a very relaxed informal feel. We were able to visit with the Governor on multiple occasions about various topics from the global world we live in to what it is like living and raising twins in China. Just having the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine or a Tsing Tao (brand of Chinese beer) with the Governor was fun.


Shad, here is your picture.... :) {I think you should be able to click and save the picture if you want it.}

Not my best pose - but neither is it for Pawlenty. After the reception we met up with our new neighbors - the Sagans - at one of our favorite hangouts - Malone's. They just arrived in Shanghai and work for IKEA. They are originally from New Jersey but lived for 8 years in Sweden prior to moving to Shanghai.
And finally Halloween is just around the corner....most of you are familiar with Ben Stiller - correct? Here is a picture from one of his more memorable movies... "Dodgeball".

With a few days more growth...maybe I have a shot at winning the best Halloween contest. (Sabrina was not impressed when I grew this on the long holiday week we had here earlier this month - personally I think it looks kind of like a I should "saddle up" but Dad, I think I'll leave the mustache to you. Love you man!)

Until next time: "Enjoy life, real life..." Frank Sinatra

Port Tour - Korea

This is going to be one of them boring blogs for some of you...

The last thing that a "land locked" guy from North Dakota ever thinks about when he was growing up is a sea port and I did not have much exposure to it as well in the flat lands of the prairie. So when the opportunity presented itself to tour the world's 4th largest port in Busan, Korea I jumped at the chance. Though my job has nothing to do with balancing the trade deficit, my indirect responsibilities do have a bit to do with sending product out of these ports bound for the US of A.
Anyway this port is considered a "deep water" port. The water depth at the vessel "berth" is 16 meters or about 45 ft deep. This will accommodate the world's largest cargo going vessels. These vessels are capable of loading 50,000 tons. To put that in perspective each container (the size of a semi trailer) can weigh up to 40,000 lbs. So technically one cargo ship can haul about 2500 semi trailers.

To be considered an "ant" in this large area among these gigantic cranes & hoists is an understatement. The area of the this port was 647,000 sq meters or about 160 acres.

One other thing I found interesting is all of the cranes are operated on electric power.

These are the containers that I mentioned earlier - they come in 20 foot and 40 foot lengths. You see them all over the highway system in the US.Until next time:

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Yuyuan Gardens

Sabrina and I took some time on Sunday to visit Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai. This week was a long holiday week and we let Ayi watch the kids so that we could see some "sites", have lunch, and so on. Information about Yuyuan can be found at http://www.yugarden.com.cn/. This garden is located deep in the heart of Shanghai and it is very beautiful. It is centuries old and was built during the time of the Ming Dynasty. The area is quite "touristy" but still very beautiful and we enjoyed the casual time.

Also providing some pictures of the twins. Caden starts baseball next week and Ava has her first dance recital in November.

(just kidding - but they are growing fast.)

"It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb." Oprah